What is the worst fear of anyone enjoying sports in open waters, be it diving, surfing or open-water swimming? If your first thought is “sharks”, here are inventions made just for you – personal wearable shark repellents!
A search for eco-friendly shark attack prevention methods
While, according to science, the probability of a shark attacking a human remains extremely low, the high attention of the media to each case may cause devastating implications to local tourism – as it was the case with the island of Réunion. The methods used to prevent shark attacks on humans, however, are often lethal to sharks themselves, such as gill nets or drum lines, which in some cases result in 86% mortality rate. Such methods may also cause substantial environmental damage – from affecting ocean ecosystems to accidental damage of other vulnerable species.
Thankfully, scientists and inventors around the world are working to address this very issue, developing methods that make oceans safe for everyone (including sharks) – like SharkSafe Barrier™ – an eco-friendly shark deterrent. However, there are still populations that are more vulnerable to shark attacks than others – water sports fans, such as surfers, divers and swimmers – who may need a different approach to improving their safety.
(Image: solarseven/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
A need for personal shark repellents
While innovations like SharkSafe Barrier repel sharks from designated areas, surfers, divers and open-water swimmers often venture well beyond those zones – into open seas and remote locations where fixed barriers offer no protection. For these water sports enthusiasts, a personal, wearable solution is the only viable option.
Designing such a device, however, comes with a specific set of challenges. It needs to be compact and easily attachable without restricting movement during physically demanding activities like diving or surfing. Since these sports are largely pursued as hobbies, cost is also a key factor – the technology needs to be accessible, not just effective. And given that water sports enthusiasts tend to be passionate advocates for the marine environment, any solution that harms ocean life is likely to be a hard sell to its own target market.
These constraints have been driving researchers and companies to develop personal wearable shark repellents for decades. Among the most promising approaches are technologies that work on the same principle – repelling sharks through stimulation of a shark’s special sensing organs – Ampullae of Lorenzini.
Using Ampullae of Lorenzini for shark repelling
In addition to usual predatory senses, most sharks have a network of sensors called Ampullae of Lorenzini on their heads. These sensors can be seen on a shark’s head and look like hundreds of pores that are filled with gel on the inside. Ampullae help sharks hunt – the organ enables sharks to detect the electrical impulses from prey. It is this particular feature of the Ampullae – the ability to feel electrical impulses – that inspired many researchers to use the organ’s sensitivity for repelling sharks.
There are several technologies that have grown from the theory that sharks can be repelled through targeted stimulation of the Ampullae of Lorenzini, including the above-mentioned SharkSafe Barrier. Most of them work on the same principle – using technology to stimulate the sensitive Ampullae of nearby sharks in a way that causes the animal to turn away. The advantage of these technologies is clear: sharks (and other predators equipped with similar sensors) do not suffer any lasting damage, while other marine life is not affected at all.
Moreover, some of these technologies were created for individual shark repellent purposes.
Shark Shield, a South African invention making waves in Australia
Shark SHIELD is a shark repelling technology based on an invention by the South African government through the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZN) – the safety, tourism and research authority on the south coast of the country responsible for protecting bathers and beaches. In 1996, after years of research, the board developed and marketed a particular kind of electrical shark repellent – the Shark Protective Oceanic Device (Shark POD) – through a spin-off company called POD Holdings Ltd. However, the product, though proven successful in repelling predators, was too bulky and had a very limited target audience. This resulted in the termination of Shark POD distribution in 2001.
Recognizing the potential inherent in the technology, Australian diver and entrepreneur Mr. Mike Wescombe-Down acquired an exclusive, worldwide licence agreement with KZN for further research and development (R&D) of the Shark POD device. In 2002, the company he co-founded, Sea Change Technology Holdings (Sea Change), launched a new device called Shark SHIELD in Australia.
Shark Shield: repelling sharks with an electrical field
The technology behind the Shark Shield device is based on its predecessor: electrodes generate an electrical field around the user, which overstimulates a shark’s Ampullae of Lorenzini and causes discomfort to the animal, thus making it recoil from the swimmer and preventing an attack. However, the improved device had important advantages, including its compact size and wearability: it could be attached by straps to the recreational swimmer’s legs or occupational diver’s pouch.
(Image: Shark Shield)
In 2006, Sea Change became Shark Shield Pty Ltd., and within a year launched a new generation of Shark SHIELDs of considerably more convenient size – not unlike a mobile phone, lighter and with a longer battery lifespan.
The company has been successful on the market for almost 20 more years, providing safety for professionals and amateurs alike, including a long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad and the crew of the American film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.
However, at the end of 2025 the company started liquidation process and ceased its activity at the beginning of 2026, leaving the door open for other innovations on the market.
Shark Shield’s intellectual property assets
The innovative technology behind the Shark Shield product has been protected by intellectual property (IP) law at every step of the way.
Already in 2002 the company filed a patent application for its shark repelling device at the Intellectual Property office of Australia (IP Australia). Moreover, in order to market its products worldwide while protecting its IP assets, the same year Mr. Wescombe-Down filed an international patent application using the Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT) system, to simultaneously start a patenting process in other countries, including New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America. Over the years, the company also submitted patent applications for a shark repelling field generating cord as well as an aquatic vessel hull.
While protecting rights to a technology is a must for any innovative company, protecting a brand may be equally important. With this in mind, Mr. Wescombe-Down registered Shark SHIELD as a trademark via IP Australia already in 2005. Since then, the company filed for protection of their name in multiple countries, using both national filing processes to obtain protection in the UK and in the US, for example, as well as the Madrid system in order to protect the Shark Shield trademark internationally.
Sharkbanz – a licensing success in shark repellent technology
Co-founded by Nathan Garrison in 2014, Sharkbanz produces shark defense technology for beachgoers, divers, and ocean athletes. In 2020, the company also launched Sharkbanz Fishing division, adapting their technology to the needs of commercial fishing captains.
The innovation behind the Sharkbanz products has been developed by its scientific partner, SharkDefense Technologies LLC, an American scientific research and development company founded in 2001, with whom Sharkbanz has an exclusive licensing agreement.
Today, Sharkbanz products are present in all major shops selling water sports products, while, according to the business, the technology is used by a wide range of users – from families to professional athletes to celebrities and military. A number of third-party research publications have also proven the technology useful for individual users and fishing boats alike.
Intellectual property assets of Sharkbanz
The technology behind Sharkbanz works on a similar basis to the Shark Shield one, only instead of an electric field, Sharkbanz creates a magnetic field that repels sharks and other predators through stimulation of the same sensors called Ampullae of Lorenzini. Moreover, just like its competitor, Sharkbanz has carefully protected the rights to its innovative technology as well as its brand.
A patent application for the innovation behind Sharkbanz was first submitted by the Shark Defense founder Dr. Stroud with IP Australia in 2005. The following year, the inventor filed an international patent application for the same technology, using the Patent Corporation Treaty (PCT) system.
Following several years of business activity and its market success, Sharkbanz also applied for protection of its brand identity, both nationally – in the US (applied in 2014), Australia (2015), Japan (2015), Mongolia (2015), Indonesia (2016), Malaysia (2016) and other countries – and internationally through the Madrid system, protecting Sharkbanz logo in the European Union and other countries across the world.
Innovation for safer oceans
Shark SHIELD and Sharkbanz both used their interest in ocean preservation, their entrepreneurial drive as well as robust IP strategy to address a pressing need in the water sports world. Both companies recognized that innovation protection is just as important as its development, and with patent applications filed through the PCT system and trademark registrations secured via the Madrid system, their IP portfolios enabled both companies to build consumer trust globally. And as Shark SHIELD exits the market, its intellectual property remains an asset that future innovators can build upon or license.
